1.
Brazil
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Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. As the worlds fifth-largest country by area and population, it is the largest country to have Portuguese as an official language. Its Amazon River basin includes a vast tropical forest, home to wildlife, a variety of ecological systems. This unique environmental heritage makes Brazil one of 17 megadiverse countries, Brazil was inhabited by numerous tribal nations prior to the landing in 1500 of explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral, who claimed the area for the Portuguese Empire. Brazil remained a Portuguese colony until 1808, when the capital of the empire was transferred from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, in 1815, the colony was elevated to the rank of kingdom upon the formation of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. Independence was achieved in 1822 with the creation of the Empire of Brazil, a state governed under a constitutional monarchy. The ratification of the first constitution in 1824 led to the formation of a bicameral legislature, the country became a presidential republic in 1889 following a military coup détat. An authoritarian military junta came to power in 1964 and ruled until 1985, Brazils current constitution, formulated in 1988, defines it as a democratic federal republic. The federation is composed of the union of the Federal District, the 26 states, Brazils economy is the worlds ninth-largest by nominal GDP and seventh-largest by GDP as of 2015. A member of the BRICS group, Brazil until 2010 had one of the worlds fastest growing economies, with its economic reforms giving the country new international recognition. Brazils national development bank plays an important role for the economic growth. Brazil is a member of the United Nations, the G20, BRICS, Unasul, Mercosul, Organization of American States, Organization of Ibero-American States, CPLP. Brazil is a power in Latin America and a middle power in international affairs. One of the worlds major breadbaskets, Brazil has been the largest producer of coffee for the last 150 years and it is likely that the word Brazil comes from the Portuguese word for brazilwood, a tree that once grew plentifully along the Brazilian coast. In Portuguese, brazilwood is called pau-brasil, with the word brasil commonly given the etymology red like an ember, formed from Latin brasa and the suffix -il. As brazilwood produces a red dye, it was highly valued by the European cloth industry and was the earliest commercially exploited product from Brazil. The popular appellation eclipsed and eventually supplanted the official Portuguese name, early sailors sometimes also called it the Land of Parrots. In the Guarani language, a language of Paraguay, Brazil is called Pindorama
2.
Minas Gerais
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Minas Gerais is a state in the north of Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product, Minas Gerais is the state with the largest number of Brazilian presidents. With an area of 586,528 square kilometres —larger than Metropolitan France—it is the fourth most extensive state in Brazil. In the south, the tourist points are the mineral spas, such as Caxambu, Lambari, São Lourenço, Poços de Caldas, São Thomé das Letras, Monte Verde. The landscape of the State is marked by mountains, valleys, in the Serra do Cipó, Sete Lagoas, Cordisburgo and Lagoa Santa, the caves and waterfalls are the attractions. Some of Brazils most famous caverns are located there, in recent years, the state has emerged as one of the largest economic forces of Brazil, exploring its great economic potential. Two interpretations are given for the origin of the name Minas Gerais and it comes from Minas dos Matos Gerais, the former name of the colonial province. Another explanation is that this ignores the two large geographical spaces which conformed the state in its history, the region of the mines, and these corresponded to the areas of Sertão which were farther and hard to access from the mining spots. The confusion comes from the fact that the term Gerais is taken as an adjective to Minas in the first version, Minas Gerais is in the north of the southeastern subdivision of Brasil, which also contains the states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo. It borders on Bahia, Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, the states of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro and it also shares a short boundary with the Distrito Federal. Minas Gerais is situated between 14°1358 and 22°5400 S latitude and between 39°5132 and 51°0235 W longitude and it is larger in area than Metropolitan France or Spain. Minas Gerais features some of the longest rivers in Brazil, most notably the São Francisco, the Paraná and to a lesser extent, the state also holds many hydroelectric power plants, including Furnas. The most notable one is the Pico da Bandeira, the third highest mountain in Brazil at 2890 m, the state also has huge reserves of iron and sizeable reserves of gold and gemstones, including emerald, topaz and aquamarine mines. Emeralds found in location are comparable to the best Colombia-origin emeralds. Each region of the state has a character, geographically. The central and eastern area of the state is hilly and rocky, around Lagoa Santa and Sete Lagoas a typical Karst topography with caves and lakes is found. Some of the mountains are almost entirely iron ore, which led to extensive mining, recent advances in environmental policy helped to put limits to mining. Vale do Aços largest cities are Ipatinga, Coronel Fabriciano and Timóteo, now that mining is restricted large areas of forest are being removed for timber, charcoal and to clear land for cattle ranching
3.
Bahia
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Bahia is one of the 26 states of Brazil and is located in the northeastern part of the country on the Atlantic coast. It is the 4th-largest Brazilian state by population and the 5th-largest by area, Bahias capital is the city of Salvador, located on a spit of land separating the Bay of All Saints from the Atlantic. Once a monarchial stronghold dominated by agricultural, slaving, and ranching interests, the name of the state derives from the earlier captaincy of Bahia de Todos os Santos, named for Bay of All Saints, a major feature of its coastline. The bay itself was named by the explorer Amerigo Vespucci during his second voyage and he named it after his parish church in Florence, San Salvatore di Ognissanti. Over time, the bay became distinguished as the Bay of All Saints, the state as Bahia, Bahia is bordered on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, with its Bay of All Saints the largest in Brazil. In the north, it is now bordered by Sergipe, Alagoas, Pernambuco, in the northwest, it is bordered by Tocantins. In the southwest, it borders Goiás, and in the south it is bordered by Espírito Santo, the state is crossed from north to south by the Diamantina Tableland, which divides it into two distinct geographical zones. To the east, the soil is fertile and the rain falls regularly, the western area is more arid and its predominate vegetation the cerrado. The natural aridity was greatly worsened over the 19th century by the habit of starting wildfires each year to improve the quality of the grass. The Green Road, a road that connects Mangue Seco in the far north to Praia do Forte, for this reason, the route is sometimes more than 10 km from the beach. At Praia do Forte, the road meets the Coconut Road leading to Salvador, passing through spots, in this region is located Deputado Luís Eduardo Magalhães International Airport. The largest bay on the Brazilian coast, the Bay of All Saints has a number of islands with tropical beaches. It is the largest navigable bay in Brazil and one of the most favorite spots for sports, due to its regular breezes, medium annual temperature of 26 °C. Major popular events and sport activities occur throughout the year, beginning on January 1, the islands of the bay are a separate attraction. Some are privately owned, others were declared a state heritage, other islands are the patrimony of 12 municipalities located around the bay. Only a few are uninhabited and many have small communities where the live on fishing. All have common characteristics, such a sea, dense vegetation, especially coconuts. Of the 56 islands, the most important are Itaparica, Madre de Deus, Maré, Frades, Medo, the Dendê Coast, south of Salvador, is surrounded by verdant vegetation, clear waters, islands, bays, coral reefs and a very diversified fauna
4.
Pernambuco
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Pernambuco is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. The state of Pernambuco also includes the archipelago Fernando de Noronha and its capital and largest city, Recife, is one of the most important economic and urban hubs in the country. As of 2013 estimates, Recifes metropolitan area is the fifth most populous in the country, in 1982 the city of Olinda, the second oldest city in Brazil, was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Recife, the capital and Olinda have one of the most traditional Brazilian Carnivals. Both have architecture of Portugal, with centuries-old casarões and churches, kilometers of beaches, the proximity of the equator guarantees sunshine throughout the year, with average temperatures of 26 °C. Pernambuco comprises a narrow coastal zone, a high inland plateau. Ranges of these form the boundary lines with three states–the Serra dos Irmãos and Serra Vermelha with Piauí, the Serra do Araripe with Ceará. The coastal area is fertile, and was covered by the humid Pernambuco coastal forests. It is now place to extensive sugar cane plantations and it has a hot, humid climate, relieved to some extent by the south-east trade winds. The middle zone, called the region, has a drier climate and lighter vegetation, including the semi-deciduous Pernambuco interior forests. The inland region, called the sertão is high, stony, and dry, the climate is characterized by hot days and cool nights. There are two defined seasons, a rainy season from March to June, and a dry season for the remaining months. The interior of the state is covered mostly by the dry thorny scrub vegetation called caatinga, the Rio São Francisco is the main water source for this area. The climate is mild in the countryside of the state because of the Borborema Plateau. Some towns are located more than 1000 meters above sea level, the island of Fernando de Noronha in the Atlantic Ocean,535 km northeast of Recife, has been part of Pernambuco since 1988. The rivers of the include a number of small plateau streams flowing southward to the São Francisco River. The former are the Moxotó, Ema, Pajeú, Terra Nova, Brigida, Boa Vista and Pontai, a large tributary of the Uná, the Rio Jacuhipe, forms part of the boundary line with Alagoas. Originally inhabited by tribes of Tupi-Guarani speaking indigenous peoples, Pernambuco was first settled by the Portuguese in the 16th century
5.
Alagoas
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Alagoas is one of the 27 states of Brazil and is situated in the eastern part of the Northeast Region. It borders, Pernambuco, Sergipe, Bahia, and the Atlantic Ocean and it occupies an area of 27,767 km², being slightly larger than Haiti. Its capital is the city of Maceió, next to last Brazilian state in area and 16th in population, it is one of the greatest producers of sugarcane and coconuts in the country and has an economy based on cattle raising. Land of the sururu, lagoon shellfish which serves as food for the coastal population, initially, the Alagoano territory constituted the southern part of the Captaincy of Pernambuco and only gained its autonomy in 1817. Its occupation pushed the expansion of the captaincys sugarcane farming, which required new areas of cultivation, thus arose Porto Calvo, Alagoas and Penedo, nuclei which guided the colonization, economic, and social life of the region for a long time. The Dutch invasion in Pernambuco was extended to Alagoas in 1631, the invaders were expelled in 1645, after intense fighting in Porto Calvo, leaving the economy totally disorganized. The escape of African slaves during the Dutch invasion created a labour shortage problem on the sugarcane plantations. Grouped in villages called quilombos, the Africans were only completely dominated at the end of the 17th century with the destruction of the most important quilombo, during the empire, the separatist and republican movement the Confederation of the Equator received the support of noteworthy Alagoano figures. Throughout the 1840s, political life was marked by the conflict between the lisos, conservatives, and the cabeludos, liberals, delmiro Gouveia was killed in October 1917 in circumstances still unclarified, after being pressured, according to rumor, to sell his factory to competing foreign firms. After his death, his machines would be destroyed and thrown into Paulo Afonso Falls, the suffix -ano is characteristic of Brazil, pernambucano, alagoano, sergipano, baiano, goiano, and later acriano. The states name originates with the lakes along its coast near the city of Maceió, the coast is bordered by fringing reefs and many fine beaches. This is the area dominated by sugar cane. Still farther inland lies the Sertão of the Northeast region of the nation, the Sertão is a high dry region dominated by scrub that is often thorn-filled and sometimes toxic, the caatinga. This area and its people are famed in legend and song and it is the land of the cowboy who is clad from head to toe with very thick leather to avoid the sharp vegetation. During the first three centuries of its history, Alagoas was part of the captaincy of Pernambuco, only changing into an independent captaincy in 1817. Initially, in the first years of the 16th century, Alagoas settlement went on slowly, in the period of the 16th and 17th centuries, French pirates invaded its territory attracted by the commerce of Brazil wood. Some time later, Duarte Coelho, owner of the captaincy of Pernambuco, gave the control of the back to the Portuguese. In 1630, the territory was taken by the Dutch, whose interest was to manage the commerce of sugarcane in most parts of the region of Brazil
6.
Sergipe
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Sergipe is the smallest state of the Brazilian Federation, located on the northeastern Atlantic coast of the country. It borders on two states, Bahia to the south and west and Alagoas to the north. Aracaju is the capital and the largest city in the state, as with most of the states in northeastern Brazil, inland Sergipe is almost entirely savanna, and its coastline is characterized by mangroves, swamps and sandy beaches. A small strip of tropical rainforest runs down the coast, the São Francisco River forms its northern boundary, and the drainage of the northern part of the state is northward and eastward to that river. The southern half of the state slopes eastward and is drained directly into the Atlantic through a number of rivers, the largest of which are the Irapiranga, the Real. These streams are navigable for short distances, but are obstructed by sandbars at their mouths, because of these, there are no good ports on the coast. The surface of the state resembles, in part, that of Bahia, with a zone of forested lands near the coast and beyond this zone lies a higher zone of rough open country. There is a belt along the coast, and the western frontier is slightly mountainous. The land in between is very fertile, especially in the region where the rainfall is abundant. Further inland, the year is divided into wet and dry seasons with occasional prolonged droughts and these are pastoral areas, and the lower fertile lands are cultivated. The capital of the state is Aracaju, on the course or estuary of the Cotinguiba River. The sandbar at the entrance to this river is dangerous. The city is found on a plain, and there are sand dunes within the city limits. The main public buildings include a plain church with unfinished twin towers, the government palace, the legislative halls. The other principal towns are Estância - pop,26,452, located in a highly productive sugar-growing district north of the capital, Capela - pop. 90,345, São Cristóvão, formerly Sergipe del-Rey - pop,75,353, which was also the old colonial capital near the mouth of the Irapiranga, and Maruim - pop. See also List of municipalities in Sergipe, Brazil, São Cristóvão was the site of the first Portuguese settlement, in 1591, at Sergipe DEl-Rey, which is today Sergipe, and later became the states capital for a while. As with other states in the northeast, Sergipe was invaded numerous times by the Dutch, from 1641 to 1645, the territory belonged to Dutch-controlled Brazil
7.
South America
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South America is a continent located in the western hemisphere, mostly in the southern hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the northern hemisphere. It may also be considered a subcontinent of the Americas, which is the used in nations that speak Romance languages. The reference to South America instead of other regions has increased in the last decades due to changing geopolitical dynamics. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east by the Atlantic Ocean, North America and it includes twelve sovereign states, a part of France, and a non-sovereign area. In addition to this, the ABC islands of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Trinidad and Tobago, South America has an area of 17,840,000 square kilometers. Its population as of 2005 has been estimated at more than 371,090,000, South America ranks fourth in area and fifth in population. Brazil is by far the most populous South American country, with more than half of the population, followed by Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela. In recent decades Brazil has also concentrated half of the regions GDP and has become a first regional power, most of the population lives near the continents western or eastern coasts while the interior and the far south are sparsely populated. Most of the continent lies in the tropics, the continents cultural and ethnic outlook has its origin with the interaction of indigenous peoples with European conquerors and immigrants and, more locally, with African slaves. Given a long history of colonialism, the majority of South Americans speak Portuguese or Spanish. South America occupies the portion of the Americas. The continent is delimited on the northwest by the Darién watershed along the Colombia–Panama border. Almost all of mainland South America sits on the South American Plate, South Americas major mineral resources are gold, silver, copper, iron ore, tin, and petroleum. These resources found in South America have brought high income to its countries especially in times of war or of rapid growth by industrialized countries elsewhere. However, the concentration in producing one major export commodity often has hindered the development of diversified economies and this is leading to efforts to diversify production to drive away from staying as economies dedicated to one major export. South America is one of the most biodiverse continents on earth, South America is home to many interesting and unique species of animals including the llama, anaconda, piranha, jaguar, vicuña, and tapir. The Amazon rainforests possess high biodiversity, containing a proportion of the Earths species. Brazil is the largest country in South America, encompassing around half of the land area
8.
Amazon River
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The Amazon River, usually abbreviated to Amazon, in South America is the largest river by discharge of water in the world and, according to some authors, the longest in length. Brazilians call this section the Solimões River above its confluence with the Rio Negro to form what Brazilians call the Amazon at the Meeting of Waters at Manaus, the rivers largest city. The Amazon basin is the largest drainage basin in the world, the portion of the rivers drainage basin in Brazil alone is larger than any other rivers basin. The Amazon enters Brazil with only one-fifth of the flow it finally discharges into the Atlantic Ocean, during what many archaeologists call the formative stage, Amazonian societies were deeply involved in the emergence of South Americas highland agrarian systems. Early human settlements were based on low-lying hills or mounds. Shell mounds were the earliest evidences of inhabitation, they represent piles of refuse and are mainly dated between 7500 and 4000 years BP. They are associated with ceramic age cultures, no preceramic shell mounds have been documented so far by archaeologists, artificial earth platforms for entire villages are the second type of mounds. They are best represented by the Marajoara culture, figurative mounds are the most recent types of occupation. There is ample evidence that the surrounding the Amazon River were home to complex and large-scale indigenous societies, mainly chiefdoms who developed large towns. Archeologists estimate that by the time the Spanish conquistador De Orellana travelled across the Amazon in 1541 and these pre-Columbian settlements created highly developed civilizations. For instance, pre-Columbian indigenous people on the island of Marajó may have developed social stratification, in order to achieve this level of development, the indigenous inhabitants of the Amazon rainforest altered the forests ecology by selective cultivation and the use of fire. Scientists argue that by burning areas of the forest repetitiously, the people caused the soil to become richer in nutrients. This created dark soil areas known as terra preta de índio, further research has hypothesized that this practice began around 11,000 years ago. Some say that its effects on forest ecology and regional climate explain the otherwise inexplicable band of rainfall through the Amazon basin. Many indigenous tribes engaged in constant warfare, james Stuart Olson wrote, The Munduruku expansion dislocated and displaced the Kawahíb, breaking the tribe down into much smaller groups. First came to the attention of Europeans in 1770 when they began a series of attacks on Brazilian settlements along the Amazon River. In March 1500, Spanish conquistador Vicente Yáñez Pinzón was the first documented European to sail up the Amazon River. Pinzón called the stream Río Santa María del Mar Dulce, later shortened to Mar Dulce, literally, sweet sea, because of its fresh water pushing out into the ocean
9.
Madeira River
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The Madeira River is a major waterway in South America, approximately 3,250 km long. The Madeira is one of the biggest tributaries of the Amazon and it was by this River, that the Nation of Topinambes passed into the River Amazon. The mean inter-annual precipitations on the great basins vary from 75 to 300 centimetres, the greatest extremes of rainfall are between 49 to 700 centimetres. The mean inter-annual contribution of the Bolivian Andes is 4,170 cubic metres per second, i. e.132 cubic kilometres per year, on the further course towards the Amazon, the mean discharge of the Madeira increases up to 31,200 cubic metres per second. In total, the catchment area is 850,000 km2, almost equal in area to France, from its source in the confluence of Beni and Mamoré rivers and downstream to Abuna river the Madeira flows northward forming border between Bolivia and Brazil. Below its confluence with the tributary the flow of river changes to north-eastward direction. The section of the river from the border to Porto Velho has notable drop of bed and was not navigable, before 2012 the falls of Teotônio and of San Antonio existed here, they had higher flow rate and bigger level drop than more famous Boyoma Falls in Africa. Currently these rapids are submerged by the reservoir of Santo Antônio Dam, below Porto Velho the Madeira meanders north-eastward through the Rondônia and Amazonas states of north west Brazil to its junction with the Amazon. The 283,117 hectares Rio Madeira Sustainable Development Reserve, created in 2006, at its mouth is Ilha Tupinambaranas, an extensive marshy region formed by the Madeira’s distributaries. The Madeira-Mamoré Railroad runs in a 365 km loop around the section to Guajará-Mirim on the Mamoré River. From these two ports, Panamax type ships then export the grains - mainly soy and corn - to Europe, in 2012, the cargo amounted to 287,835 tons. The total tonnage shipped in 2012 on the Madeira accounted to 5,076,014, two large dams are under construction as part of the IIRSA regional integration project. The dam projects include large ship-locks capable of moving oceangoing vessels between the reservoir and the downstream river. If the project is completed, more than 4,000 km of waterways upstream from the dams in Brazil, Bolivia, the Bolivian river dolphin, variously considered a subspecies of the Amazon river dolphin or a separate species, is restricted to the upper Madeira River system. It has been estimated there are more than 900 fish species in the Madeira River Basin. The river is the title of the album Aguas da Amazonia. Both the Jirau and Santo Antonio dams are run-of-the-river projects that do not impound a large reservoir, both dams also feature some environmental re-mediation efforts. As a consequence, it has suggested that there has not been strong environmental opposition to the implementation of the Madeira river complex
10.
Atlantic Ocean
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The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the worlds oceans with a total area of about 106,460,000 square kilometres. It covers approximately 20 percent of the Earths surface and about 29 percent of its surface area. It separates the Old World from the New World, the Atlantic Ocean occupies an elongated, S-shaped basin extending longitudinally between Eurasia and Africa to the east, and the Americas to the west. The Equatorial Counter Current subdivides it into the North Atlantic Ocean, in contrast, the term Atlantic originally referred specifically to the Atlas Mountains in Morocco and the sea off the Strait of Gibraltar and the North African coast. The Greek word thalassa has been reused by scientists for the huge Panthalassa ocean that surrounded the supercontinent Pangaea hundreds of years ago. The term Aethiopian Ocean, derived from Ancient Ethiopia, was applied to the Southern Atlantic as late as the mid-19th century, many Irish or British people refer to the United States and Canada as across the pond, and vice versa. The Black Atlantic refers to the role of ocean in shaping black peoples history. Irish migration to the US is meant when the term The Green Atlantic is used, the term Red Atlantic has been used in reference to the Marxian concept of an Atlantic working class, as well as to the Atlantic experience of indigenous Americans. Correspondingly, the extent and number of oceans and seas varies, the Atlantic Ocean is bounded on the west by North and South America. It connects to the Arctic Ocean through the Denmark Strait, Greenland Sea, Norwegian Sea, to the east, the boundaries of the ocean proper are Europe, the Strait of Gibraltar and Africa. In the southeast, the Atlantic merges into the Indian Ocean, the 20° East meridian, running south from Cape Agulhas to Antarctica defines its border. In the 1953 definition it extends south to Antarctica, while in later maps it is bounded at the 60° parallel by the Southern Ocean, the Atlantic has irregular coasts indented by numerous bays, gulfs, and seas. Including these marginal seas the coast line of the Atlantic measures 111,866 km compared to 135,663 km for the Pacific. Including its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers an area of 106,460,000 km2 or 23. 5% of the ocean and has a volume of 310,410,900 km3 or 23. 3%. Excluding its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers 81,760,000 km2 and has a volume of 305,811,900 km3, the North Atlantic covers 41,490,000 km2 and the South Atlantic 40,270,000 km2. The average depth is 3,646 m and the maximum depth, the bathymetry of the Atlantic is dominated by a submarine mountain range called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It runs from 87°N or 300 km south of the North Pole to the subantarctic Bouvet Island at 42°S, the MAR divides the Atlantic longitudinally into two halves, in each of which a series of basins are delimited by secondary, transverse ridges. The MAR reaches above 2000 m along most of its length, the MAR is a barrier for bottom water, but at these two transform faults deep water currents can pass from one side to the other
11.
Drainage basin
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A drainage basin or catchment area is any area of land where precipitation collects and drains off into a common outlet, such as into a river, bay, or other body of water. Drainage basins connect into other drainage basins at elevations in a hierarchical pattern, with smaller sub-drainage basins. Other terms used to describe drainage basins are catchment, catchment basin, drainage area, river basin and water basin. In closed drainage basins the water converges to a point inside the basin, known as a sink, which may be a permanent lake. The drainage basin acts as a funnel by collecting all the water within the covered by the basin. Each drainage basin is separated topographically from adjacent basins by a perimeter, drainage basins are similar but not identical to hydrologic units, which are drainage areas delineated so as to nest into a multi-level hierarchical drainage system. Hydrologic units are defined to allow multiple inlets, outlets, or sinks, in a strict sense, all drainage basins are hydrologic units but not all hydrologic units are drainage basins. Drainage basins of the oceans and seas of the world. Grey areas are endorheic basins that do not drain to the oceans, the following is a list of the major ocean basins, About 48. 7% of the worlds land drains to the Atlantic Ocean. The two major mediterranean seas of the world also flow to the Atlantic, The Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico basin includes most of the U. S. The Mediterranean Sea basin includes much of North Africa, east-central Africa, Southern, Central, and Eastern Europe, Turkey, and the areas of Israel, Lebanon. Just over 13% of the land in the world drains to the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Oceans drainage basin also comprises about 13% of Earths land. It drains the eastern coast of Africa, the coasts of the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, the Indian subcontinent, Burma, antarctica comprises approximately eight percent of the Earths land. The five largest river basins, from largest to smallest, are the basins of the Amazon, the Río de la Plata, the Congo, the Nile, and the Mississippi. The three rivers that drain the most water, from most to least, are the Amazon, Ganga, endorheic drainage basins are inland basins that do not drain to an ocean. Around 18% of all land drains to endorheic lakes or seas or sinks, the largest of these consists of much of the interior of Asia, which drains into the Caspian Sea, the Aral Sea, and numerous smaller lakes. Some of these, such as the Great Basin, are not single drainage basins but collections of separate, in endorheic bodies of standing water where evaporation is the primary means of water loss, the water is typically more saline than the oceans. An extreme example of this is the Dead Sea, drainage basins have been historically important for determining territorial boundaries, particularly in regions where trade by water has been important
12.
Federal District (Brazil)
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The Federal District is one of 27 federative units of Brazil. The capital — the seat of the three branches of the government of Brazil — is the main attraction of this dry area. During the dry season, the humidity can reach critical levels, the artificial Paranoá Lake, with almost 40 km2 and 500 million cubic metres of water, was built to minimize the severe dry, climatic conditions of winter in the Cerrado vegetation. The capital of Brazil was transferred from Rio de Janeiro to Brasília on 21 April 1960, after the transfer the old Federal District became Guanabara state, the only city-state Brazil ever had so far. This existed from 1960 until 1975 when it merged with Rio de Janeiro state, with the merge, the capital was transferred back from Niterói to Rio de Janeiro, as it was until 1834 when the empire created the Neutral Municipality. According to the IBGE of 2007, there were 2,393,000 people residing in the Federal District, the population density was 410.9 inhabitants per square kilometre. In area, the Federal District is more than double the size of Tokyo or the island of Maui and it is slightly larger than French Polynesia, the US State of Rhode Island, or Cape Verde. It is slightly smaller than Bali or Trinidad and Tobago, the Parque da Cidade Located in Brasília, the Parque da Cidade, which is named after the wife of Brazilian president Juscelino Kubitschek, extends over four million square meters. It includes landscape works of Burle Marx, and wall tiles that decorate restrooms in the park designed by Athos Bulcão, the parks main entrance is located in the Monumental Axis South, but there are secondary exits that lead to other areas in the citys south wing. The Metropolitan Cathedral of Brasilia Designed by Oscar Niemeyer, it was inaugurated in 1970 and its shape is circular horizontally and structured around 16 curved pillars, forming a crown filled with futuristic and/or spatial stained-glass works in a triangular shape. The pillars evoke reversed praying hands that deconstruct the traditional church window pattern. The curves present in many of Niemeyers works pay homage to the beautifully built bodies of Brazilian women, the stained-glasses were designed by Marianne Peretti. Their disposition ensures natural lighting into the aisle, which was built below street level, around the church, in the outside area, visitors can see Alfredo Ceschiattis sculptures — the four evangelists — and inside, suspended angels. There are also paintings by Emiliano Di Cavalcanti, representing the stages of the Passion of Christ, the Cathedral is located in the Eixo Monumental mall, at the entry to the Esplanada dos Ministerios, or Ministries Sector. The Square also hosts, the Panteão da Pátria, the Lúcio Costa Space and three important sculptures — Pombal, by Niemeyer, Justice, by Alfredo Ceschiatti, and Os Candangos, by Bruno Giorgi. In the central plaza, a giant Brazilian national flag 286 square meters is supported by a triangular black 100-meter and it is located at the end of the Esplanada dos Ministerios. Vehicles,910,502 Mobile phones,2.7 million Telephones,884 thousand Cities,31 The service sector is the largest component of GDP at 92. 5%, Federal District exports, soybean 77. 1% and gold 16. 4%. The Federal Districts share of the Brazilian economy is 3. 7% as of 2005, because of its strategic location it is considered a civil aviation hub for the rest of the country
13.
Navigability
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A body of water, such as a river, canal or lake, is navigable if it is deep, wide and slow enough for a vessel to pass or walk. Preferably there are few such as rocks or trees to avoid. High water speed may make a channel unnavigable, waters may be unnavigable because of ice, particularly in winter. Navigability depends on context, A small river may be navigable by craft, such as a motor boat or a kayak. Shallow rivers may be navigable by the installation of locks that increase and regulate water depth. Inland Water Transport Systems have been used for centuries in countries including India, China, Egypt, the Netherlands, the United States, Germany, China, and Bangladesh. In the Netherlands, IWT handles 46% of the nations inland freight, 32% in Bangladesh, 14% in the United States, what constitutes navigable waters can not be separated from the context in which the question is asked. Numerous federal agencies define jurisdiction based on navigable waters, including admiralty jurisdiction, pollution control, to the licensing of dams, the numerous definitions and jurisdictional statutes have created an array of case law specific to which context the question of navigability arises. Some of the most commonly discussed definitions are listed here, section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899, approved 3 March 1899, prohibits the unauthorized obstruction of a navigable water of the U. S. For the purpose of establishing which river is public and therefore state-owned, if a river was considered navigable at the time of statehood, the land below the navigable water was conveyed to the state as part of the transportation network in order to facilitate commerce. Most states retained title to these rivers in trust for the public. Some states divested themselves of title to the land below navigable rivers, title to the lands submerged by smaller streams are considered part of the property through which the water flows and there is no public right to use private property. The scope of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission authority was granted under the Federal Power Act,1941, such authority is based on congressional authority to regulate commerce, it is not based exclusively on title to the riverbed or even navigability. Therefore, FERCs permitting authority extends to the flow from non-navigable tributaries in order to protect commerce downstream, also, the Clean Water Act has introduced the terms traditional navigable waters, and waters of the United States to define the scope of Federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act. The Clean Water Act expands a more limited jurisdiction beyond navigable waters sometimes extending limited federal jurisdiction under the Act over private property. S, Supreme Court decisions, Carabell v. United States and Rapanos v. United States. Finally, a water-body is presumed non-navigable with the burden of proof on the party claiming it is navigable, the U. S. Forest Service considers a waterbody not navigable until is adjudicated otherwise. See Whitewater v. Tidwell 770 F. 3d 1108, therefore, and public rights associated with navigability cannot be presumed to exist without a finding of navigability. Navigability is a term of art, which can lead to considerable confusion
14.
Pirapora
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Pirapora is a municipality in northcentral Minas Gerais in Brazil. The population is 56,229 in an area of 550 km², the name Pirapora comes from the Tupi words for fish + jump, referring to the piracema season when a mass migration of fishes ascends the São Francisco River to spawn. Pirapora belongs to its own statistical microregion, the elevation of the municipal seat is 472 meters. It became a municipality in 1912 and this municipality is located on the right bank of the São Francisco River and is 340 km from the state capital. Neighboring municipalities are, Lagoa Grande, Coromandel, Guarda-Mor, Lagamar, there are two districts, besides the municipal seat, Claro de Minas,12 km. distant, and Vazamor,32 km. distant. The statistical microregion of Pirapora includes 9 cities, Buritizeiro, Várzea da Palma, Ibiaí, Jequitaí, São Romão, Lassance, Riachinho, Santa Fé de Minas and it has an area of 23,111 km2 and a population of approximately 150,000 inhabitants. The city is located on the bank of the great São Francisco River. In 1911 the small Arraial de São Gonçalo de Pirapora became the seat of a municipality and its street plan was laid out in the form of a chess set, inspired by the new capital of Belo Horizonte, and the streets were given names of Brazilian states. There are highway connections with the federal highway, the BR040. In 1910 the railroad came up from the south and reached Pirapora, there were plans to extend the line to the coast. At the end of the nineteen seventies the line was deactivated, but the bridge and these boats used charcoal, which contributed to the disappearance of the vegetation along the river. One of the old paddle wheel steamboats, the Benjamim Guimarães, the main economic activities are industry, cattle raising, farming, goods and services, and tourism. The GDP for 2005 was R$662,985,000. In the rural area there were 605 farms and an agricultural area of 57,000 hectares, of which 38,000 ha. were planted,14,000 were in natural pasture. 2,800 people were dependent on farming,107 of the farms had tractors. In 2006 there were 9,600 head of cattle, with irrigation Pirapora has become a major producer of tropical fruits, growing eating grapes, papaya, mangoes, cantaloupe, and guava. There is also production on a scale of corn, beans, rice, manioc, tomatoes, lettuce. According to the city government site, Pirapora is the second most important city in the north of Minas, after Montes Claros, there is an industrial park where several small and medium industries are installed
15.
Juazeiro
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Juazeiro, formerly also known as Joazeiro, is a municipality in the state of Bahia, in the northeastern region of Brazil. Its name comes from the tree which grows in the region. The city is twinned with Petrolina, in the state of Pernambuco, the two cities are connected by a modern bridge crossing the São Francisco River. Together they form the region of Petrolina-Juazeiro, an urban conglomerate of close to 500,000 inhabitants. It was founded in 1833 and became a city on July 15,1878 and its city districts are Abóbora, Carnaíba, Itamotinga, Junco, Juremal, Massaroca, and Pinhões. The annual average temperature is 24.2 °C, although it lies on the São Francisco River and the Curaçá River, the climate of the city is semi-arid and it gets an annual precipitation of only 399 mm. For more detailed information on the climate see Petrolina, Juazeiro was at the center of an ongoing mosquito spread Zika virus outbreak in early 2016. There are highway connections with several capitals of the Northeast and railroad connections to the coast are made by the Ferrovia Centro-Atlântica, the railroad connection ends at the fluvial port of Juazeiro. Like its sister city Petrolina, Juazeiro has experienced growth in the last decade due to the irrigation of the semi-arid soils with water from the São Francisco River. Fruit cultivation is important to such an extent that Juazeiro entitles itself Capital of Irrigated Fruit, for more detailed information on the development of this fertile valley see the article on Petrolina
16.
Piranhas
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Piranhas is a historic municipality near the western limit of the State of Alagoas, in the Northeast Region of Brazil. Located on the banks of the São Francisco River, on the border with the State of Sergipe, Piranhas was founded in 1891 and it was also known as Porto de Piranhas, because fishermen caught piranhas there. The town was founded in 1891 and its architecture is typical of late Empire, Northeast style of constructions. Historically Piranhas was the limit of navigation on the lower São Francisco River. Immediately upstream of Piranhas there were impassable rapids, and 60 km further upstream was the falls at Paulo Afonso. Above those falls the São Francisco became navigable again for over 1500 km, in 1881 Piranhas became the start of a railway line which was designed to bypass these obstacles to navigation. The line rose out of the deeply cut valley of the river and then, paralleling it at a distance of several kilometres, set off in a north-westerly direction, from 1881 to 1903 this railway was known as the Estrada de Ferro Paulo Afonso. After this date the line was incorporated successively in two other companies before closing finally in 1964. The line was never incorporated physically into any railway network, remaining a single, single track, today Piranhas can be reached by boat from several ports along the São Francisco, or by car, via a paved road from Maceió. Water sports such as catamarans, sailboats and canoes are available at beaches and lakes. Several waterfalls, the river itself, the semi-arid and rough caatinga, strange rock formations, and its river gorges are visible
17.
Francis of Assisi
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Saint Francis of Assisi, born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, informally named as Francesco, was an Italian Roman Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the mens Order of Friars Minor, the women’s Order of Saint Clare, the Third Order of Saint Francis, Francis is one of the most venerated religious figures in history. Pope Gregory IX canonized Francis on 16 July 1228, along with Saint Catherine of Siena, he was designated Patron saint of Italy. In 1219, he went to Egypt in an attempt to convert the Sultan to put an end to the conflict of the Crusades, by this point, the Franciscan Order had grown to such an extent that its primitive organizational structure was no longer sufficient. He returned to Italy to organize the Order, once his community was authorized by the Pope, he withdrew increasingly from external affairs. Francis is also known for his love of the Eucharist, in 1223, Francis arranged for the first Christmas live nativity scene. He died during the hours of 3 October 1226, while listening to a reading he had requested of Psalm 142. Pietro was in France on business when Francis was born in Assisi, upon his return to Assisi, Pietro took to calling his son Francesco, possibly in honor of his commercial success and enthusiasm for all things French. Since the child was renamed in infancy, the change can hardly have had anything to do with his aptitude for learning French, as some have thought. While going off to war in 1202, Francis had a vision that directed him back to Assisi, in 1205, Francis left for Apulia to enlist in the army of Walter III, Count of Brienne. Francis lived the high-spirited life typical of a young man. In 1201, he joined an expedition against Perugia and was taken as a prisoner at Collestrada. It is possible that his conversion was a gradual process rooted in this experience. Upon his return to Assisi in 1203, Francis returned to his carefree life, in 1204, a serious illness led him to a spiritual crisis. A strange vision made him return to Assisi, deepening his ecclesiastical awakening, on a pilgrimage to Rome, he joined the poor in begging at St. Peters Basilica, an experience that moved him to live in poverty. Francis returned home, began preaching on the streets, and soon gathered followers and his Order was authorized by Pope Innocent III in 1210. He then founded the Order of Poor Clares, which became a religious order for women. As a youth, Francesco became a devotee of troubadours and was fascinated with all things Transalpine, in this account, he was selling cloth and velvet in the marketplace on behalf of his father when a beggar came to him and asked for alms
18.
Assisi
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Assisi is a town and comune of Italy in the Province of Perugia in the Umbria region, on the western flank of Monte Subasio. The 19th-century Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows was also born in Assisi, around 1000 BC a wave of immigrants settled in the upper Tiber valley as far as the Adriatic Sea, and also in the neighborhood of Assisi. These were the Umbrians, living in fortified settlements on high ground. From 450 BC these settlements were taken over by the Etruscans. The Romans took control of central Italy after the Battle of Sentinum in 295 BC and they built the flourishing municipium Asisium on a series of terraces on Monte Subasio. Roman remains can still be found in Assisi, city walls, the forum, a theatre, an amphitheatre, in 1997, the remains of a Roman villa were also discovered containing several well-preserved rooms with frescoes and mosaics in a condition rarely found outside sites such as Pompei. In 238 AD Assisi was converted to Christianity by bishop Rufino, according to tradition, his remains rest in the Cathedral Church of San Rufino in Assisi. The Ostrogoths of king Totila destroyed most of the town in 545, Assisi then came under the rule of the Lombards as part of the Lombard and then Frankish Duchy of Spoleto. The thriving commune became an independent Ghibelline commune in the 11th century, the city, which had remained within the confines of the Roman walls, began to expand outside these walls in the 13th century. In this period the city was under papal jurisdiction, the city went into a deep decline through the plague of the Black Death in 1348. The city came again under papal jurisdiction under the rule of Pope Pius II, in 1569 construction was started of the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli. During the Renaissance and in later centuries, the city continued to develop peacefully, as the 17th-century palazzi of the Bernabei, now the site of many a pilgrimage, Assisi is linked in legend with its native son, St. Francis. The gentle saint founded the Franciscan order and shares honors with St. Catherine of Siena as the saint of Italy. He is remembered by many, even non-Christians, as a lover of nature, Assisi was hit by two devastating earthquakes, that shook Umbria in September 1997. But the recovery and restoration have been remarkable, although much remains to be done, massive damage was caused to many historical sites, but the major attraction, the Basilica di San Francesco, reopened less than 2 years later. UNESCO collectively designated the Franciscan structures of Assisi as a World Heritage Site in 2000, the Basilica of San Francesco dAssisi. The Franciscan monastery, il Sacro Convento, and the lower and upper church of St Francis were begun immediately after his canonization in 1228, and completed in 1253. The Basilica was badly damaged by an earthquake on 26 September 1997, during part of the vault collapsed, killing four people inside the church
19.
Ethnic groups in Europe
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The ethnic groups in Europe are the focus of European ethnology, the field of anthropology related to the various ethnic groups that reside in the nations of Europe. The total number of minority populations in Europe is estimated at 105 million people. There is no precise or universally accepted definition of the ethnic group or nationality. There are eight peoples of Europe with more than 30 million members residing in Europe and these eight groups between themselves account for some 465 million or about 65% of European population, Russians, Germans, French, British, Italians, Spanish, Ukrainians, Poles. About 20–25 million residents are members of diasporas of non-European origin, the population of the European Union, with some five hundred million residents, accounts for two thirds of the European population. Of the total population of Europe of some 730 million, over 80% or some 600 million fall within three large branches of Indo-European languages, viz. Slavic, Italic and Germanic, the largest groups that do not fall within these three are the Greeks and the Albanians. Beside the Indo-European languages there are two major language families on the European continent, Turkic languages and Uralic languages. The Semitic languages that dominate the coast of northern Africa as well as the Near East are preserved in Malta, abkhaz–Adyghean, Basque, Kartvelian, and Nakho-Dagestani are linguistic isolates with no known relation to each other or to any other languages inside or outside of Europe. The Basques are assumed to descend from the populations of the Atlantic Bronze Age directly, the Indo-European groups of Europe are assumed to have developed in situ by admixture of early Indo-European groups arriving in Europe by the Bronze Age. The Finnic peoples are mostly assumed to be descended from populations that had migrated to their homelands by about 3,000 years ago. A group of Tyrrhenian languages appears to have included Etruscan, Rhaetian and perhaps also Eteocretan, a pre-Roman stage of Proto-Basque can only be reconstructed with great uncertainty. Regarding the European Bronze Age, the only secure reconstruction is that of Proto-Greek, a Proto-Italo-Celtic ancestor of both Italic and Celtic, and a Proto-Balto-Slavic language has been postulated with less confidence. Old European hydronymy has been taken as indicating an early Indo-European predecessor of the later centum languages, iron Age populations of Europe known from Greco-Roman historiography, notably Herodotus, Pliny, Ptolemy and Tacitus, Aegean, Greek tribes, Pelasgians/Tyrrhenians, and Anatolians. Armenian Highlands/Anatolia, Armenians Balkans, Illyrians, Dacians, and Thracians, Caucasus, Georgians Italian peninsula, Italic peoples, Etruscans, Adriatic Veneti, Ligurians and Greek colonies. Western/Central Europe, Celts, Rhaetians and Swabians, Vistula Veneti, Lugii, Iberian peninsula, Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula Basques and Phoenicians. Sardinia, ancient Sardinians, comprising the Corsi, Balares and Ilienses tribes, British Isles, Celtic tribes in Britain and Ireland and Picts/Priteni. Northern Europe, Finnic peoples, Germanic peoples, iranian influence, Achaemenid control of Thrace and the Bosporan Kingdom, Cimmerians, Scythians, Sarmatians, Alans, Ossetes. The Jewish diaspora reached Europe in the Roman Empire period, the Jewish community in Italy dating to around AD70, the Bulgars, a semi-nomadic people, originally from Central Asia, eventually absorbed by the Slavs
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Calendar of the saints
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The word feast in this context does not mean a large meal, typically a celebratory one, but instead an annual religious celebration, a day dedicated to a particular saint. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, a calendar of saints is called a Menologion, Menologion may also mean a set of icons on which saints are depicted in the order of the dates of their feasts, often made in two panels. As the number of recognized saints increased during Late Antiquity and the first half of the Middle Ages, eventually every day of the year had at least one saint who was commemorated on that date. To deal with this increase, some saints were moved to days in some traditions or completely removed. For example, St. Perpetua and Felicity died on 7 March, when the 1969 reform of the Catholic calendar moved him to 28 January, they were moved back to 7 March. Both days can thus be said to be their feast day, the Roman Catholic calendars of saints in their various forms, which list those saints celebrated in the entire church, contains only a selection of the saints for each of its days. A fuller list is found in the Roman Martyrology, and some of the saints there may be celebrated locally, Saint Martin of Tours is said to be the first or at least one of the first non-martyrs to be venerated as a saint. The title confessor was used for saints, who had confessed their faith in Christ by their lives rather than by their deaths. Martyrs are regarded as dying in the service of the Lord, a broader range of titles was used later, such as, Virgin, Pastor, Bishop, Monk, Priest, Founder, Abbot, Apostle, Doctor of the Church. Pope Pius XII added a common formula for Popes, the 1962 Roman Missal of Pope John XXIII omitted the common of Apostles, assigning a proper Mass to every feast day of an Apostle. The present Roman Missal has common formulas for the Dedication of Churches, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Martyrs, Pastors, Doctors of the Church, Virgins, some Christians continue the tradition of dating by saints days, their works may appear dated as The Feast of Saint Martin. Poets such as John Keats commemorate the importance of The Eve of Saint Agnes, as different Christian jurisdictions parted ways theologically, differing lists of saints began to develop. In the present ordinary form of the Roman Rite, feast days are ranked as solemnities and those who use even earlier forms of the Roman Rite rank feast days as Doubles, Semidoubles, and Simples. See Ranking of liturgical days in the Roman Rite, in the Eastern Orthodox Church the ranking of feasts varies from church to church. In the Russian Orthodox Church they are, Great Feasts, middle, each portion of such feasts may also be called feasts as follows, All-Night Vigils, Polyeleos, Great Doxology, Sextuple. There are also distinctions between Simple feasts and Double, in Double Feasts the order of hymns and readings for each feast are rigidly instructed in Typikon, the liturgy book. In the Church of England, there are Principal Feasts and Principal Holy Days, Festivals, Lesser Festivals, and Commemorations. com
21.
Italians
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Italians are a nation and ethnic group native to Italy who share a common culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a native tongue. The majority of Italian nationals are speakers of Standard Italian. Italians have greatly influenced and contributed to the arts and music, science, technology, cuisine, sports, fashion, jurisprudence, banking, Italian people are generally known for their localism and their attention to clothing and family values. The term Italian is at least 3,000 years old and has a history that goes back to pre-Roman Italy. According to one of the common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The Etruscan civilization reached its peak about the 7th century BC, but by 509 BC, when the Romans overthrew their Etruscan monarchs, its control in Italy was on the wane. By 350 BC, after a series of wars between Greeks and Etruscans, the Latins, with Rome as their capital, gained the ascendancy by 272 BC, and they managed to unite the entire Italian peninsula. This period of unification was followed by one of conquest in the Mediterranean, in the course of the century-long struggle against Carthage, the Romans conquered Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica. Finally, in 146 BC, at the conclusion of the Third Punic War, with Carthage completely destroyed and its inhabitants enslaved, octavian, the final victor, was accorded the title of Augustus by the Senate and thereby became the first Roman emperor. After two centuries of rule, in the 3rd century AD, Rome was threatened by internal discord and menaced by Germanic and Asian invaders. Emperor Diocletians administrative division of the empire into two parts in 285 provided only temporary relief, it became permanent in 395, in 313, Emperor Constantine accepted Christianity, and churches thereafter rose throughout the empire. However, he moved his capital from Rome to Constantinople. The last Western emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was deposed in 476 by a Germanic foederati general in Italy and his defeat marked the end of the western part of the Roman Empire. During most of the period from the fall of Rome until the Kingdom of Italy was established in 1861, Odoacer ruled well for 13 years after gaining control of Italy in 476. Then he was attacked and defeated by Theodoric, the king of another Germanic tribe, Theodoric and Odoacer ruled jointly until 493, when Theodoric murdered Odoacer. Theodoric continued to rule Italy with an army of Ostrogoths and a government that was mostly Italian, after the death of Theodoric in 526, the kingdom began to grow weak
22.
Age of Discovery
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It also marks the rise of the period of widespread adoption in Europe of colonialism and mercantilism. Many lands previously unknown to Europeans were discovered during this period, from the perspective of many non-Europeans, the Age of Discovery marked the arrival of settlers and invaders from a previously unknown continent. This represented one of the most-significant global events concerning ecology, agriculture and it also allowed for the expansion of Christianity throughout the world with the spread of missionary activity, becoming the worlds largest religion. The Portuguese began systematically exploring the Atlantic coast of Africa from 1418, in 1488 Bartolomeu Dias reached the Indian Ocean by this route. In 1492 the Catholic Monarchs of Castile and Aragon funded Christopher Columbuss plan to sail west to reach the Indies by crossing the Atlantic and he landed on a continent uncharted by Europeans and seen as a new world, the Americas. In 1498, a Portuguese expedition commanded by Vasco da Gama reached India by sailing around Africa, soon, the Portuguese sailed further eastward, to the valuable Spice Islands in 1512, landing in China one year later. In 1513, Spanish Vasco Núñez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama, thus, Europe first received news of the eastern and western Pacific within a one-year span around 1512. Meanwhile, from the 1580s to the 1640s, Russians explored and conquered almost the whole of Siberia, another source was the Radhanite Jewish trade networks of merchants established as go-betweens between Europe and the Muslim world during the time of the Crusader states. Knowledge about the Atlantic African coast was fragmented and derived mainly from old Greek and Roman maps based on Carthaginian knowledge, the Red Sea was barely known and only trade links with the Maritime republics, the Republic of Venice especially, fostered collection of accurate maritime knowledge. Indian Ocean trade routes were sailed by Arab traders, between 1405 and 1421, the Yongle Emperor of Ming China sponsored a series of long range tributary missions under the command of Zheng He. The fleets visited Arabia, East Africa, India, Maritime Southeast Asia, by 1400 a Latin translation of Ptolemys Geographia reached Italy coming from Constantinople. The rediscovery of Roman geographical knowledge was a revelation, both for mapmaking and worldview, although reinforcing the idea that the Indian Ocean was landlocked, a prelude to the Age of Discovery was a series of European expeditions crossing Eurasia by land in the late Middle Ages. A series of Europeans took advantage of these to explore eastwards, most were Italians, as trade between Europe and the Middle East was controlled mainly by the Maritime republics. The close Italian links to the Levant raised great curiosity and commercial interest in countries which lay further east, christian embassies were sent as far as Karakorum during the Mongol invasions of the Levant, from which they gained a greater understanding of the world. The first of these travellers was Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, dispatched by Pope Innocent IV to the Great Khan, about the same time, Russian prince Yaroslav of Vladimir, and subsequently his sons Alexander Nevsky and Andrey II of Vladimir, travelled to the Mongolian capital. Though having strong political implications, their journeys left no detailed accounts, other travellers followed, like French André de Longjumeau and Flemish William of Rubruck, who reached China through Central Asia. After returning, he dictated an account of his journeys to a scholar he met in Granada, the Rihla, between 1357 and 1371 a book of supposed travels compiled by John Mandeville acquired extraordinary popularity. These overland journeys had little immediate effect, the Mongol Empire collapsed almost as quickly as it formed and soon the route to the east became more difficult and dangerous
23.
Amerigo Vespucci
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Colloquially referred to as the New World, this second super continent came to be termed Americas, deriving its name from Americus, the Latin version of Vespuccis first name. Amerigo Vespucci was born and raised in Florence on the Italian Peninsula and he was the third son of Ser Nastagio Vespucci, a Florentine notary, and Lisabetta Mini. The father of Ser Nastagio Vespucci had the name Amerigo Vespucci also, Amerigo Vespucci was educated by his uncle, Fra Giorgio Antonio Vespucci, a Dominican friar of the monastery of San Marco in Florence. Vespucci acquired the favor and protection of Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de Medici who became the head of the business after the elder Lorenzos death in 1492, just around this time, Vespucci was engaged as the executor of Giannotto Berardi, an Italian merchant who had recently died in Seville. Vespucci organized the fulfillment of Berardis outstanding contract with the Castilian crown to provide twelve vessels for the Indies, after these were delivered, Vespucci continued as a provision contractor for Indies expeditions, and is known to have secured beef supplies for at least one of Columbus voyages. At the invitation of king Manuel I of Portugal, Vespucci participated as observer in several voyages that explored the east coast of South America between 1499 and 1502. On the first of these voyages he was aboard the ship that discovered that South America extended much further south than previously thought, the expeditions became widely known in Europe after two accounts attributed to Vespucci were published between 1502 and 1504. In 1507, Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the new continent America after the feminine Latin version of Vespuccis first name. In an accompanying book, Waldseemüller published one of the Vespucci accounts, in 1508, the position of chief of navigation of Spain was created for Vespucci, with the responsibility of planning navigation for voyages to the Indies. Two letters attributed to Vespucci were published during his lifetime, mundus Novus was a Latin translation of a lost Italian letter sent from Lisbon to Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de Medici. It describes a voyage to South America in 1501–1502, mundus Novus was published in late 1502 or early 1503 and soon reprinted and distributed in numerous European countries. Lettera di Amerigo Vespucci delle isole nuovamente trovate in quattro suoi viaggi, printed in 1504 or 1505, it claimed to be an account of four voyages to the Americas made by Vespucci between 1497 and 1504. A Latin translation was published by the German Martin Waldseemüller in 1507 in Cosmographiae Introductio, Vespucci even developed a rudimentary, but fairly accurate method of determining longitude. In the 18th century, three unpublished familiar letters from Vespucci to Lorenzo de Medici were rediscovered, one describes a voyage made in 1499–1500 which corresponds with the second of the four voyages. Another was written from Cape Verde in 1501 in the part of the third of the four voyages. The third letter was sent from Lisbon after the completion of that voyage, some have suggested that Vespucci, in the two letters published in his lifetime, was exaggerating his role and constructed deliberate fabrications. However, many now believe that the two letters were not written by him but were fabrications by others based in part on genuine letters by Vespucci. It was the publication and widespread circulation of the letters that might have led Waldseemüller to name the new continent America on his map of 1507 in Lorraine
24.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
25.
Richard Francis Burton
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Sir Richard Francis Burton KCMG FRGS was an English explorer, geographer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, cartographer, ethnologist, spy, linguist, poet, fencer, and diplomat. He was famed for his travels and explorations in Asia, Africa, according to one count, he spoke 29 European, Asian and African languages. Burton defied many aspects of the pervasive British ethnocentrism of his day and his works and letters extensively criticized colonial policies of the British Empire, even to the detriment of his career. A characteristic feature of his books is the copious footnotes and appendices containing remarkable observations, Burton was a captain in the army of the East India Company, serving in India. Following this, he was engaged by the Royal Geographical Society to explore the east coast of Africa, in later life, he served as British consul in Fernando Pó, Santos, Damascus and, finally, Trieste. He was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and was awarded a knighthood in 1886. Burton was born in Torquay, Devon, at 21,30 on 19 March 1821, in his autobiography and he was baptized on 2 September 1821 at Elstree Church in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire. His father, Lt. -Colonel Henry Peard Driscoll and Mrs Richard Graves, richards mother, Martha Baker, was the daughter and co-heiress of a wealthy English squire, Richard Baker, of Barham House, Hertfordshire, for whom he was named. Burton had two siblings, Maria Katherine Elizabeth Burton and Edward Joseph Netterville Burton, born in 1823 and 1824, Burtons family travelled considerably during his childhood. In 1825, they moved to Tours, France, Burtons early education was provided by various tutors employed by his parents. He first began an education in 1829 at a preparatory school on Richmond Green in Richmond, Surrey. Over the next few years, his family travelled between England, France, and Italy, Burton showed an early gift for languages and quickly learned French, Italian, Neapolitan, and Latin, as well as several dialects. During his youth, he was rumored to have carried on an affair with a young Roma woman, even learning the rudiments of her language, the peregrinations of his youth may have encouraged Burton to regard himself as an outsider for much of his life. As he put it, Do what thy manhood bids thee do, from none, Burton matriculated at Trinity College, Oxford, on 19 November 1840. Before getting a room at the college, he lived for a time in the house of Dr. William Alexander Greenhill. Here, he met John Henry Newman, whose churchwarden was Dr. Greenhill, despite his intelligence and ability, Burton was antagonised by his teachers and peers. During his first term, he is said to have challenged another student to a duel after the latter mocked Burtons moustache, Burton continued to gratify his love of languages by studying Arabic, he also spent his time learning falconry and fencing. In April 1842, he attended a steeplechase in deliberate violation of college rules and subsequently dared to tell the college authorities that students should be allowed to attend such events
26.
Brazilian Highlands
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In addition, the vast majority of Brazils population lives in the highlands or on the narrow coastal region immediately adjacent to it. Ancient basaltic lava flows gave birth to much of the region, however, the time of dramatic geophysical activity is long past, as there is now no seismic or volcanic activity. Erosion has also played a part in shaping the Highlands, forming extensive sedimentary deposits. It was once almost completely covered by the Atlantic Rainforest, one of the richest areas of biodiversity in the world, southern Plateau, advancing inland in the southern and southern-central portions of the country. Sedimentary rocks covered partially by basaltic lava spills that form the ground known as purple land. Large portions of this region were covered by the Atlantic Rainforest, while araucaria highland forest. Central Plateau, occupying the central portions of Brazil, with sedimentary, approximately 85% was once covered by cerrado vegetation, of which only a small portion remains intact. In addition to the regions, several adjoining or enclosed mountain ranges are considered to be part of the Brazilian Highlands. Plateaus of Brazil Guiana Shield Serras de Sudeste
27.
Paulo Afonso
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Paulo Afonso is a city in Bahia, Brazil. The city is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Paulo Afonso, the city is served by Paulo Afonso Airport. The municipality contains part of the Raso da Catarina ecoregion and it contains part of the 104,842 hectares Raso da Catarina Ecological Station, created in 2001
28.
Remanso
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Remanso is a municipality in the state of Bahia in the North-East region of Brazil. Remanso covers 4,683.4 km2, and has a population of 42,056 with a density of 9 inhabitants per square kilometer. Remanso was relocated from its location in 1974 with the construction of the Sobradinho Dam. It consists of two districts, Remanso, the seat, and Poços. The municipality was designated a priority area for conservation and sustainable use when the Caatinga Ecological Corridor was created in 2006, Remanso was originally inhabited by indigenous people of the Acoroase ethnic group. Refugees of armed conflicts in the municipality of Pilão Arcado arrived in the 19th century. The area was fertile and due to its location on the São Francisco River, the area quickly attracted new residents who founded the town of Vila de Nossa Senhora do Remanso do Pilão Arcado in 1857. This became an independent municipality on August 9,1900 under the name of Remanso, 10/77 of January 28,1977 the municipality was relocated 7 kilometres from its original location in 1974 for the construction of the Sobradinho Dam. The new location, referred to as Nova Remanso, was constructed by Companhia Hidro Elétrica do São Francisco, the municipality lost a quarter of its territory with the construction of the dam and the old city is now submerged under the Sobradinho Reservoir. Remanso is noted for its micareta, an off-season celebration similar to the Brazilian Carnival, the micareta of Remanso attracts approximately 10,000 people annually. The municipality also holds the Our Lady Rosário Festival annually
29.
Luiz Gonzaga Dam
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The Luiz Gonzaga Dam, formerly known as the Itaparica Dam, is a rock-fill embankment dam on the São Francisco River 25 kilometres downstream of Petrolândia in Pernambuco, Brazil. The dam was built for navigation, and hydroelectric generation as it supports a 1,479 megawatts power station. It was constructed between 1979 and 1988, the last of its generators was commissioned in 1990, the contains a 720-metre concrete section that supports the power plants and spillway of which contains nine floodgates. The maximum level of the reservoir is 305.4 metres above sea level while the dam reaches a height of 308.1 metres. The dam supports a 310-metre long and 54. 6-metre wide hydroelectric power station, the station contains six SíncronoVertical Francis turbines within generators that have an installed capacity of 246.6 megawatts each, totaling 1,479 MW. The first generator was commissioned on June 13,1988, another later that year, three of the generators were manufactured by Gie and the other three along with three of the turbines by Siemens. Voith manufactured the three remaining turbines, in 1986, CHESF, the builders of the dam, agreed to construct irrigation facilities. The World Bank had described CHESFs relocation plan as flawed and financed a $500 million resettlement program if certain criteria were met, the World Bank estimates that each family will cost $60,000 and the construction of irrigation facilities is slowly progressing. List of power stations in Brazil
30.
Tributary
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A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean, tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage basin of its surface water and groundwater, leading the water out into an ocean. A confluence, where two or more bodies of water together, usually refers to the joining of tributaries. The opposite to a tributary is a distributary, a river or stream that branches off from, distributaries are most often found in river deltas. Right tributary and left tributary are terms stating the orientation of the relative to the flow of the main stem river. These terms are defined from the perspective of looking downstream, where tributaries have the same name as the river into which they feed, they are called forks. These are typically designated by compass direction, for example, the American River receives flow from its North, Middle, and South forks. The Chicago Rivers North Branch has the East, West, and Middle Fork, the South Branch has its South Fork, forks are sometimes designated as right or left. Here, the handedness is from the point of view of an observer facing upstream, for instance, Steer Creek has a left tributary which is called Right Fork Steer Creek. Tributaries are sometimes listed starting with those nearest to the source of the river, the Strahler Stream Order examines the arrangement of tributaries in a hierarchy of first, second, third, and higher orders, with the first-order tributary being typically the least in size. For example, a second-order tributary would be the result of two or more first-order tributaries combining to form the second-order tributary, another method is to list tributaries from mouth to source, in the form of a tree structure, stored as a tree data structure
31.
Paraopeba River
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The Paraopeba River is a river in Brazil, flowing in the state of Minas Gerais. In the Tupi language Para means great river or sea, the full name therefore means something like flat river. The source of the river is situated south of the municipality Cristiano Otoni, the mouth is at the Três Marias Dam in the municipality Felixlandia in the same state. The length of the river is 546,5 km and its covers a area of 12.090 km² and 35 municipalities. The most important tributaries are the Macaúba River, the Camapuã River, the Paraopeba River is one of the most important tributaries of the São Francisco River, ensuring the yearlong navigability of that river
32.
Petrolina
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For the petroleum company, see, Petrolina. Petrolina is a city located in the southernmost point of the state of Pernambuco, the population was 281.851 in 2009 in a total area of 4756.8 km², which makes it the largest municipality in the state by area. Petrolina is situated on the bank of the São Francisco River across from its twin city of Juazeiro. The two cities, making up an area of almost 520.000 people, are connected by a modern bridge. Sobradinho Dam, enclosing Sobradinho Reservoir, the 12th largest reservoir in the world, is located 26 kilometers upriver, road connections are made by BR-407, connecting Feira de Santana, near Salvador, and Picos located in the state of Piauí. There are railroad connections in Juazeiro made by the Ferrovia Centro-Atlântica, the Petrolina Airport is mainly for regional flights, plus the international exportation of fresh fruits produced by irrigation agro-poles. The municipality was designated a priority area for conservation and sustainable use when the Caatinga Ecological Corridor was created in 2006, the origin of the name Petrolina comes from the merging of the original name Pedra Linda, or Beautiful Rocks. The growth of Petrolina and its sister city Juazeiro is the result of the construction of the Sobradinho Dam, the region is perhaps the only one in the interior of the Northeast that has gained population through in-migration. While the population in the states of Pernambuco and Bahia as a whole increased by 50. 1% between 1970 and 1990, it more than doubled in Petrolina-Juazeiro. For many years the economy of the Valley of the São Francisco was based on cattle raising combined with subsistence farming. Agriculture has grown by leaps and bounds with irrigated farming being the source of income. Petrolinas climate is hot and dry, being classified as hot semi-arid. Petrolina is located in the belt from the Northeastern Region of Brazil that is characterized with low rainfall. The precipitation does not have distribution in time or space. The rainy season begins in December and ends in May, after that, the climate is still dry until December. The main economic activities in Petrolina are based in the agriculture, related industry
33.
Mississippi River
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The Mississippi River is the chief river of the largest drainage system on the North American continent. Flowing entirely in the United States, it rises in northern Minnesota, with its many tributaries, the Mississippis watershed drains all or parts of 31 U. S. states and 2 Canadian provinces between the Rocky and Appalachian Mountains. The Mississippi ranks as the fourth longest and fifteenth largest river in the world by discharge, the river either borders or passes through the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Native Americans long lived along the Mississippi River and its tributaries, most were hunter-gatherers, but some, such as the Mound Builders, formed prolific agricultural societies. The arrival of Europeans in the 16th century changed the way of life as first explorers, then settlers. The river served first as a barrier, forming borders for New Spain, New France, and the early United States, and then as a vital transportation artery and communications link. Formed from thick layers of the silt deposits, the Mississippi embayment is one of the most fertile agricultural regions of the country. In recent years, the river has shown a shift towards the Atchafalaya River channel in the Delta. The word itself comes from Messipi, the French rendering of the Anishinaabe name for the river, see below in the History section for additional information. In addition to historical traditions shown by names, there are at least two measures of a rivers identity, one being the largest branch, and the other being the longest branch. Using the largest-branch criterion, the Ohio would be the branch of the Lower Mississippi. Using the longest-branch criterion, the Middle Mississippi-Missouri-Jefferson-Beaverhead-Red Rock-Hellroaring Creek River would be the main branch and its length of at least 3,745 mi is exceeded only by the Nile, the Amazon, and perhaps the Yangtze River among the longest rivers in the world. The source of this waterway is at Browers Spring,8,800 feet above sea level in southwestern Montana and this is exemplified by the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and the phrase Trans-Mississippi as used in the name of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition. It is common to qualify a regionally superlative landmark in relation to it, the New Madrid Seismic Zone along the river is also noteworthy. These various basic geographical aspects of the river in turn underlie its human history and present uses of the waterway, the Upper Mississippi runs from its headwaters to its confluence with the Missouri River at St. Louis, Missouri. The source of the Upper Mississippi branch is traditionally accepted as Lake Itasca,1,475 feet above sea level in Itasca State Park in Clearwater County, however, the lake is in turn fed by a number of smaller streams. From its origin at Lake Itasca to St. Louis, Missouri, fourteen of these dams are located above Minneapolis in the headwaters region and serve multiple purposes, including power generation and recreation. The remaining 29 dams, beginning in downtown Minneapolis, all locks and were constructed to improve commercial navigation of the upper river
